


rebooting

by dragonbagel



Series: stop your soul from catching fire [4]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: (not rly relevant to this plot but still), Cybernetics, F/M, Gender Dysphoria, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Medical, Siren Rhys, Surgery, Trans Rhys, i really just wanted to explore this concept tbh, sasha's pov
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-02 21:58:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16313423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonbagel/pseuds/dragonbagel
Summary: rhys' dick breaks-- literally. sasha just wants to help.// aka an excuse to better explore rhys' transition





	rebooting

**Author's Note:**

> i've had this idea kicking around for a while, and i just really wanted to explore the mechanics of rhys' phalloplasty (ie self-created dick). so yeah, enjoy some actual writing for once in my life

When Rhys first complained about his dick hurting, Sasha laughed at him.

“What?” She said through giggles. “Are we having too much sex or something?”

Rhys spluttered that no, they were having a perfect amount of sex, thank you very much. He conceded that it was probably nothing, even agreeing to Sasha’s teasing that yeah, he was probably being overdramatic, could they please move on and never mention this again?

Sasha just continued to laugh.

* * *

When Rhys couldn’t get it up the next time they were naked in bed together, Sasha smirked and asked if he needed some Viagra.

“First of all,” Rhys huffed, letting his hand fall to his side from where he’d been furiously stroking himself in an attempt to get hard (while Sasha watched in amusement, no less). “I don’t think that would even work on me.”

Sasha shrugged. “Might be worth looking into, because this is just sad.”

Rhys elbowed her lightly. “Yeah, yeah. I’m probably just tired.”

Sasha snorted.

“What? Aren’t you the one always saying I work too much?”

Sasha pursed her lips. “Fair point.”

She propped herself up on an elbow from where she’d been laying on her side next to Rhys. “Now come on; your dick might not work, but your mouth definitely does.”

* * *

When Rhys spent fifteen minutes in the bathroom just trying to take a piss, Sasha suggested for the first time that maybe Rhys should go see a doctor.

“No, no,” Rhys said, his fear and dislike of medical professionals obvious as he paced before her. “I’m fine.”

Sasha looked pointedly at the way Rhys kept shifting his pants around his crotch, wincing as he did so.

“You’re clearly not.” Rhys looked ready to protest, so Sasha hurriedly continued. “Maybe you have a kidney stone or something.”

Rhys blanched. “God, I hope not. My aunt had one of those once, and she said it was super painful, and then she died a month later, not because of the stone but--”

“Rhys,” Sasha cut him off. “You’re not dying.”

Rhys’ expression was doubtful. Sasha sighed, because clearly she’d awoken the hypochondriac inside her boyfriend.

“Look, would you just call a doctor? Pretty please, for me?”

Rhys groaned. “Fine. Give me a sec to call Vaughn.”

Before Sasha could even protest that Vaughn definitely didn’t have a medical degree, his face had already popped up on the holographic projection emitting from his palm.

“Hey bro, what’s up?” Vaughn yawned, rubbing at his eyes. Sasha realized that with the difference in location, it was probably well into the middle of the night at the Helios settlement.

“Hey,” Rhys said, nervously scratching at the nape of his neck with his free hand. “So remember when I crashed Helios and killed, like, a bunch of people?”

Vaughn blinked, probably wondering if this was just some weird dream. “Uh, yeah?”

Rhys was quick to continue speaking, his words blurring together at his fast pace. “Is there any chance that Dr. Chan, uh, survived?”

Sasha had frankly no clue who this Dr. Chan character was, but Vaughn clearly did.

“Shit,” he said, his brows creasing in worry. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Rhys replied quickly. “Well, actually, no, not really. I think my dick is broken, and I may also possibly be dying.”

Sasha froze as the pieces slowly clicked together in her mind. Rhys feared his dick might be actually broken, not just as a figure of speech.

She’d seen the mechanisms of it before, when Rhys had been comfortable enough to show her. It somehow felt even more intimate then when she was, y’know, intimate with it. She hadn’t totally understood the jargon that Rhys spewed out with ease, but the blend of cybernetics and flesh and fancy bioengineering was a complex beauty.

Vaughn appeared to be flipping through a stack of papers, tongue peaking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration. The binders and notebooks looked scattered and haphazardly shoved together, and Sasha had no idea how Vaughn could actually find anything in the mess.

“Aha!” Vaughn exclaimed, freezing Rhys in his nervous fidgeting. “Right here, Dr. Chan. She’s alive, bro!”

Rhys sighed loudly, and Sasha squeezed his now drooping shoulders comfortingly.

“Thank God.”

“She should be all set up at our medical station. I don’t know if you’ve seen it yet, but it’s super nice. It’s got fancy chairs and everything!”

Rhys smiled, though it was obvious to Sasha that it didn’t reach his eyes. “Awesome.”

“When should I tell her you’ll be coming in for a visit?”

“Um,” Rhys glanced at Sasha as if looking for confirmation. She shrugged. “Does tomorrow work?”

The immediacy took Sasha a bit by surprise; she’d been sure he’d try to put off the appointment for as long as possible, blaming it on work or something. Maybe he was more worried than he was letting on.

“Sure!” Vaughn said. “It’s not like she’s super booked or anything. Her expertise isn’t really in skag bites.”

Rhys attempted a snort, but it just came out sounding sad and strangled.

“Alright bro, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Rhys nodded. “Yup. I’m expecting a personal escort from the fast travel station.”

It was Vaughn’s turn to chuckle. “That shouldn’t be hard with all your worshippers.”

Rhys did actually laugh at that, and Sasha rolled her eyes as she pulled Rhys’ hand towards her. “Bye Vaughn, you can go back to sleep now. Don’t let the spiderants bite.”

She pushed Rhys’ fingers overtop his palm, ending the call as she planted a kiss on his knuckle. “Time for bed.”

Rhys nodded, following her into the bedroom.

* * *

Rhys barely slept. At least, that’s what Sasha reasoned from the dark bags under his eyes and the fact that he was already in their small kitchen drinking coffee when she woke up.

“Hey,” she said, yawning and cracking her back as she took a seat next to him. “How long have you been awake?”

Rhys took a sip of his coffee as he stared at the screen of his laptop, pausing from typing furiously on a spreadsheet.

“Pandora to Rhys,” Sasha said, shaking his shoulder gently.

“Huh?” Rhys said, turning away from his work to face Sasha.

“I said good morning, asshole,” Sasha said, rolling her eyes.

“Oh,” Rhys said, his gaze slowly roaming to the corner of his eye where he could see his computer. “Good morning.”

Sasha pressed a kiss to his lips. They tasted like coffee, except in the form of the overly sugary and more-cream-than-actual-coffee way that Rhys insisted was good. “You ready for today?”

Rhys shrugged. “I guess.”

Sasha stood up, making her way over to the coffeemaker. “It’ll be nice to see Vaughn.”

“Yeah,” Rhys said, watching as Sasha rifled through the freezer for a package of frozen waffles before pouring herself a cup of coffee.

“Y’know,” Rhys said as Sasha loaded her breakfast into the toaster. “I do have a chef who could make us some actual food.”

“Eggos are food,” Sasha replied, blowing on her coffee to cool it.

Rhys rolled his eyes, but didn’t complain when Sasha later deposited a few waffles in front of him.

“Now eat up,” she said, running her fingers through Rhys’ hair and ruffling it in the way she knew he hated yet secretly enjoyed. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”

**Author's Note:**

> please leave comments, they motivate me to update (and fuel my will to live)


End file.
